College football reporter and blogger that knows a lot of coaches Dodd is.
I think Mitch can improve as a QB, but these accuracy and off target issues are hard to cure for a quarterback. Accurate quarterbacks that improve over time and sledom miss have been that way from the time they were coming up even young guys, they hit everything and seldom miss in practice even, can hit targets like nobody's business. Right now Mitch struggles with using proper footwork, yeah his torn MCL has played a part of that but that doesn't excuse bad habits of jumping up in the air to throw a pass, not planting and following through, when he is on the move, he seldom sets himself up to deliver an accurate ball, with good footwork, squaring himself up, and the follow through on his throws were non-existent at times. He could benefit from going to one of those GURU camps in California to work on his footwork the most, during Semester break, he could benefit a lot from one of those.
Young guys are always way to reliant on just there arms because they get by with that stuff in high school and at a younger age. I'm not so sure that Mitch will ever read a D at the level where he can anticpate things opening up and developing before they happen but that comes with playmakers too and time. Besides Maxx Williams, the options were thin. All we had was Fruechte or D Jones, and occassionally KJ Maye the Gophers did not have a lot of options experience wise or route running wise that made you think the passing game would get a lot better. That said Mitch missed a lot of open targets and zeroed in on one guy, all things typical of a Sophmore level QB in college. Crystal ball is very cloudy on Mitch, one thing you know though is the guy can run, he is tough and he is a very hard worker. If ever there were a guy that could beat the odds and improve at a high level I would bet on Mitch, the guy does bust his butt in practice and off the field stuff. I know I was critical but I think Mitch can overcome the weaknesses and actually get better with his passing, it is just going to take time. You can see a guy like Mitch, even in high school they do not get the competition level where they have a lot of standouts playing secondary in the Midwest or a ton of wide receiving options in our home recruiting areas of Minnesota, Iowa, S and N Dakota and Western Wisconsin. Especially Minnesota HS football, where just about all offensive football is run oriented and run first options. Those Cali, Floida and Texas, most deep south, kids playing QB, they play football year round and they get a lot of exposure playing against top level competition at camps even Spring ball and HS league play. Recruiting a Minnesota or cold level Midwest Quarterback you will always get guys with less experience, and lower exposure to throwing the football. Most of it is talent first, but some is experience, repetitions, and exposure related.
